Boateng showing he's worth wait

by Paola Boivin - Nov. 18, 2009 09:54 PMThe Arizona Republic

Much of Eric Boateng's basketball career has been defined by chance meetings and surprise opportunities. The Arizona State senior's 21-point, 12-rebound performance against Texas Christian was none of that, a product instead of four-plus years of a trying to become a better player.

Tuesday night's 52-49 victory over TCU was significant in that it launched the Sun Devils into New York City, where they will be rewarded with national exposure and a meeting against No. 9 Duke in the semifinals of the NIT Season Tip-Off on Wednesday.

Timing is everything. It's a down year for big men in the Pac-10 so anything Boateng can contribute will give ASU an edge.

The giddiness over Boateng's effort extended from Tempe to Des Moines, Iowa, where Drake coach Mark Phelps was trying to shake off a 20-point loss to Iowa State by watching the Sun Devils. The former ASU assistant had bonded with Boateng during intense post-practice workouts in the 2006-07 season - a season that the player had to sit out after transferring from Duke.

"I was really, really excited," Phelps said Wednesday. "He's such a unique person. You can count on one hand how many people can have the expectations he had placed on him and still maintain the resolve he had.

"He's a rare find, the consummate gentlemen mixed with the consummate professional."

Expectations can mess with your head. After moving to the United States from England in 2002, he turned into a McDonald's All-American and earned a scholarship to Duke, but after a season during which he averaged only 2.5 minutes a game, Boateng felt lost in the shuffle. His thoughts immediately turned to ASU and coach Herb Sendek, who had traveled all the way to London to recruit him.

He transferred and sat out the next season and was on the bench for most of the next two. ASU found it too hard to take Jeff Pendergraph off the floor.

This is what Boateng has had to live with, experiencing his last true on-court success four years ago when he was tagged a high school superstar.

"I've said all along, Eric Boateng is ready for his last year here," teammate Jamelle McMillan said. "He's prepared himself; he's done the necessary prep work all through the summer. He's always staying after, coming early. He's in the gym by himself a lot. I'm not surprised."

It's surprising if you consider basketball was only a small part of his youth. He grew up in London - the son of parents who emigrated from Ghana - and played soccer. He was walking home from practice one day when a man spotted the 6-foot-3 14-year-old on the street and suggested he visit the city's Brixton Recreation Centre, where a top club basketball team, the Topcats, trained.

"He just said, 'Go check it out' and gave me the coach's phone number," Boateng said.

A year later, as his talents emerged, he was approached by a Canadian production company working on a show called "KidsWorld Sports" that highlighted promising young athletes. For their feature on Boateng, the producers sought out the perspective of a U.S. coach about the British player's skills and contacted Tony Tucker, then the head basketball coach at IMG Academies in Florida.

In conversations with Boateng, Tucker told him about a place he used to coach: St. Andrew's, a private boarding school in Middletown, Del., that opened its doors to international students and offered financial assistance for the five-figure tuition. Boateng was intrigued. He liked the academic opportunities and knew that Luol Deng, another Brixton product who now plays for the Chicago Bulls, had gone the U.S. prep school route.

"It was scary," Boateng said. "I almost didn't go but my mother and uncle reminded me what a great experience it would be."

His journey eventually took him to Tempe, where he hopes to lead a 3-0 ASU team selected seventh in the Pac-10 preseason media poll. Before the Sun Devils play Duke, an opponent Boateng insists he's not even thinking about, they face San Francisco on Friday in a non-conference meeting.

Boateng still has much to prove and one game doesn't make a career. But by becoming a factor inside, by becoming a player who has had 30 rebounds in three games, and by playing a schedule that features a limited amount of big men, reason for optimism remains.

Optimism that has little to do with luck and a lot to do with hard work.